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BRP: Customer experience top priority for retailers

Boston Retail Partners' 2015 Unified Commerce Benchmark Survey reveals customer experience as top CRM priority for retailers.

May 13, 2015

Customer experiences that transcend standard channels are the new model; successful retailers will understand that customer relationship management is key to influencing customer behavior, according to the Boston Retail Partners' 2015 CRM/Unified Commerce Survey.

"Customer experience and engagement continues to be the top priority for retailers in their quest to gain and retain customers," Brian Brunk, principal, Boston Retail Partners, said in a statement. "It is interesting to see the explosive growth in the use of gamification as part of a CRM program to engage and motivate customers."

The survey revealed that a successful CRM program is built on a closed-loop system that begins by identifying customers to establish new relationships, followed by engaging with customers in compelling ways such as gamification that enhance the customer experience, then analyzing customer behaviors in real-time, and finally, retaining customers with superior service and loyalty programs; this continuous loop is essential for retailers to cultivate valuable customer relationships.

"The key to influencing a customer's purchase and offering a personalized experience is to identify the customer early, as soon as they enter the store," Ken Morris, principal, Boston Retail Partners, said in a statement. "However, in many cases, customer identification is happening at the point of checkout, which is too late to influence a current purchase decision. Fortunately, our survey indicates that within five years, more than 50 percent of retailers plan to identify customers when they walk in the store."

More findings from BRP's CRM survey:

• 83 percent more retailers plan to identify customers when they walk in the store within five years.
• 87 percent of retailers plan to use gamification to engage the customer within five years.
• 100 percent of the retailers plan to utilize analytics to understand shopping behaviors within two years.
• 46 percent of retailers indicate that a structured loyalty program is a top CRM priority.